Technological Issues
The present era technological issues and advancements are vast as they range from security issues to humans becoming redundant. Many of these issues or opportunities have developed dramatically during a rapid rise in digital technology. These include;
Social Media Crisis as a Technological Issue
The rise in social media and mobile technology has presented a challenge and opportunity for airlines. With the development of technology, the travel experience has greatly expanded and is now a multi-layered and multi-screen experience. Travel customers are always looking to expand their experience and this puts airlines and travel agencies at a risk of being outdated. Keeping the client at the center of the airline in mobile. social and digital media allows airlines to maintain customer experience that engage both customers and employees, drive personalized experiences and improve customer service scores (Hutchinson, 2019).
In the early days of social media, the airline industry was often the social media “punching bag” as airline customers turned to social media as a tool to get attention when customer service call centers proved to be too slow. However, as social media has significantly grown in users - one negative customer experience going viral can be detrimental to any airline. In the United Arab Emirates alone, there are millions of active users across each social media platform seen in figure 23. Although social media provides users the chance to connect with their community and brands, it also puts brands at risk of their image and reputation being ruined. With features such as users going live, posting videos, and re-sharing content of other users; there have been a plethora of airline customer service mishaps going viral and causing outrage.
Figure 37: Social Media Statistics in UAE
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How Emirates Airlines leveraged the technological issue of Social Media Crisis in their AIMC
Many airlines, including the world’s third-largest aviation group United Airlines, have endured plentiful mishaps that have gone viral across the globe. From pets dying from being placed in overhead compartments by flight attendants, passengers being dragged off planes and sustaining severe injuries to racist encounters from airline staff all caught on camera, United Airlines is a perfect example of airlines being put on blast. More so, many airlines have repeatedly employed poor PR crisis management whether it is straight from the CEO or social media team.
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Figure 38: CEO of United Airlines statement supporting cabin crews actions regarding a passenger being dragged off plane
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In fact, we see Emirates Airlines along with others capitalizing and blasting United Airlines for the incident where a passenger was injured while being dragged off an overbooked flight, causing a major crash in their United’s stock value due to social media outrage. United Airlines CEO, Oscar Munoz, had previously stated that “Those Gulf Airlines aren’t airlines” in 2017, thus leaving Emirates Airlines confident about their service quality and customer service after United’s repeated failures (Anderson, 2017). This led to Emirates Airlines putting out multiple clips and tweets where they mischievously insult United Airlines while pitching their own renowned efforts towards quality customer experience. Although other airlines in the Gulf region, such as Jordanian Airways, also took a jab at United Airlines - Etihad Airways did not take advantage of the situation and refrained from the drama. However, below is the copy platform and advert for how Emirates Airlines responded to the crisis.
Copy Platform for the advert:
Issue to be addressed:
Emirates is addressing the recent United Airlines incident where a passenger has dragged off an overbooked flight and had severe injuries. This advert speaks to the aggressive and unsafe treatment that passengers faced due to the United Airlines staff. Emirates Airlines ensures that they provide a safe journey for their passengers.
Communication Objective:
To raise awareness about the United Airlines issue but also reaffirm that Emirates would never approve of conduct such behavior.
Target Audience:
This advert directly targets loyal Emirates clientele, United Airlines customers who are looking to change loyalty and to any potential flyer who is up-to-date about the incident.
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Compelling Benefit:
Since the incident was viral, everyone was enraged with United Airlines and wanted to boycott the airlines. Therefore they are looking to take their loyalty somewhere safer, like Emirates Airlines.
Creative Strategy:
This advert/tweet was posted in a timely manner on Twitter in order to make an impact while the topic was fresh. Twitter is commonly used for customer service updates and dealing with brand scandals, responses and reviews. The image is very simple and straightforward. The use of the two brand colours makes the image easily recognizable. More so, the wording is kept short and witty- in order to leave a favourable impact without being too disrespectful to United Airlines. Also, the wording has a form of alliteration, the repetition of words starting with “f”. This adds to how easy the words roll on the tongue. The last sentence is in all capital letters to emphasize that while they are being humorous, they are also serious about their promise to not harm their passengers.
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Figure 39: Emirates Airlines response to United Airlines scandal on Twitter
Fortunately, neither Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways have faced severe social media scandals or mishaps going viral. However, on one occasion, Emirates Airlines had to clear up fake news, regarding a pilot being fired for not wanting to fly to Israel, that had been spreading across social media, seen in Figure 40 (Arab News, 2021). This brings to light that even though airlines make errors, social media also adds the challenge that brands can receive backlash for events or mistakes that never took place. This is especially risky and challenging during times of political unrest and when social media is the driving force for raising awareness for such topics.
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Figure 40: Emirates Airlines response to viral fake news
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How Etihad Airways leveraged the technological issue of Social Media Crisis in their AIMC
On the other hand, Etihad Airways has not received any significant scandals from users and passengers. In fact, Etihad celebrated being the winner of the Best Emerging Airline on Social Media Award in 2014 while also achieving one million followers on Facebook (TTN, 2014). Etihad Airways undertook various initiatives on its social networking pages to engage fans and build a stronger bond with them, alongside generating revenue for the airline.
Etihad Airways has received significantly higher engagement rates compared to Emirates Airlines, despite having four million less followers than Emirates. The airline’s Instagram profile is an excellent snapshot of the engaging social media posts that are typical of Etihad across each of their platforms. Common elements include that each post / picture is always themed around their passenger jets, staff, or travelers and their destinations, If there are people featured in the photos, they’re always smiling and all of the posts have a unifying aesthetic theme (Storyclash, 2020).
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Figure 41: Etihad Airways most-liked Instagram picture (on left)
How Emirates Airlines & Etihad Airways leveraged the technological issue of Social Media Crisis in their AIMC
David Berkowitz, from Serial Marketer, said “Now that novelty (of social media outrage) is gone, and airlines' satisfaction ratings have generally risen for the past decade. That means airlines have been able to do more to promote their brand and not just defend it from attack” (Chamberlain, 2020).
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When a brand can break through traditional advertising and marketing barriers through social media, they aren’t just attracting new customers but are developing life-long loyalty. As an even greater benefit to the airline industry, social media is a much more cost-effective way of advertising, and the return on investment reflects that (Aeronautics, 2019). Both Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways are in the top ten airlines brands that are globally visible across social media. Although Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways continue to develop unique and inspiring campaigns across all media platforms, they have also received free brand awareness through user/employee-generated content.
Dubai, home to many Emirates air-hostesses, is a sought-after expatriate location and tourist destination. In fact, many air-hostesses seek to work with Emirates due to their numerous employee/air-hostess benefits such as inclusive housing at grand locations, special discounts at top restaurants and bars, travel privileges and more. Due to this, many social media users are extremely curious of the life that Emirate air-hostesses live. This stems from their curiosity in what it takes to be hired but also to see what their day-to-day life looks like. This has led to many Emirates cabin crew publishing youtube videos that share their journey and lifestyle, seen in figure 26.
Figure 41: Emirates Airlines cabin-crew generated content
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There are thousands of videos from Emirates crew members across the globe. Some videos easily reach hundreds of thousands of views. One of the vlogs by JetGirl has received over 1.8 million views, 25 thousands likes and 900 comments. This trend of insightful vlogs have indirectly built brand awareness, customer retention and the desire for individuals to work at Emirates Airlines.
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Figure 42: Emirates Airlines Cabin Crew vlog with over 1.8 million views
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In return, this has pushed Etihad cabin crew to also hop onto this style of user-generated content. However, it’s important to note that when compared to the user-generated videos of Emirates cabin crew, Etihad has received much lower KPI’s and engagements.
Figure 43: Etihad Airways cabin-crew vlog
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